The present invention relates generally to the field of computers, and more particularly to decision trees.
A decision tree is a flowchart-like decision support tool that uses a tree graph to determine possible choices, and may have one or more nodes associated with it. The nodes are structures that contain values or conditions, and each node of the tree may have a parent and children associated with it. As such, each node may be described as a root, branch, or leaf of the tree based on the associated parent and child nodes. While a root node is a node that has no associated parent node and a leaf node is a node that has no associated child nodes, a branch node is a node that has both parent and child nodes. Decision trees take the form of a directed acyclic graph, whereby the tree is traversed from the root node to a leaf node via one or more branch nodes. Therefore, a decision tree requires input from a user at every branch node to determine the appropriate next node. Decision trees are utilized in fields such as technical support, finance, medicine and healthcare, and education.